5 Tewns Vol.28
Read Time: 4 mins
Frosty greetings from the magic mountains of northern Portugal. Because I’ve been spending long days planting out cabbage and trying to locate a hidden cesspit, I’m a day late. Anyway, here’s this week’s music digest…
Cassius – Feeling for You [Virgin]
Somewhere in time, between the Paris Commune and the current wave of protests (Go on, Gen Z!), there was another magical period when, for me, France could do no wrong. A mystical three-to-four-year stretch from Daft Punk’s seminal Homework to Étienne de Crécy’s 2000 album Tempovision. A time when it felt as though I would never, nor could I ever, tire of heavy filtering, fat kicks, and disco-funk samples. Sadly, I did, as French House, like disco before it, became more like Saturday Night Fever than The Loft.
sigh
Recently, in my role as a tubby, millennial father of two, I’ve been introducing my youngest (8) to the delights of UK/US Garage and French House; he seems to prefer the latter. I played this Gwen McCrae-sampling bad boy in the car today and was instantly commanded to “Put this on my playlist, Dad”, so I’m putting it on this playlist too.
FYI: I’ve listed Virgin here as that was the original release, but I’m linking to the re-release “Deluxe package”.
The Human Remains – Ash [Plague Records]
Like a hastily put-together drop tower at a dodgy market town fairground, we dive. Eyes streaming. From the carefree optimism of late-90s French House into the murky depths of 2026 Bristolian avant hip-hop. I’ve had this on repeat for a few weeks now, as the label was kind enough to send it over, and though a co-sign from an ageing Celtic farmer/blogger is unlikely to make them any money, I’m happy to report that I’m pretty blown away by it. I will post a full, wordy review in a few days, so look out for that.
There’s an integral sense of the weird on Hidden Exits that I’ve not heard since Strange U’s LP4080 and I think “Ash” is a great illustration of the excellent, unhinged music that lies within. And, after a day of remote cyberattacks on European supermarket fridges and rumours of impending nuclear war, it fits beautifully into our apocalyptic present.
Holy Tongue – Vuoto 25 [AD93]
Armageddon vibes continue with this from Holy Tongue’s latest long player, Basilikum, released last month on AD93. “Vuoto 25” – void in Italian, if Google Translate is to be believed – is a driving, witchy, Krautrock-leaning masterclass in dub. Down we go, spelunking into an underground world where serpentine arpeggios create a rigid structure. A Maypole for the ghost-like vocal samples, winds, tablas and other percussive elements to dance around. I put this one on the Fuzzy Frontiers Calan Gaeaf playlist this year.
Gothy druidic dub heads assemble!
Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan – This Machine [Castles in Space]
“This Machine”, the opening track from Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan’s latest album, signals a shift in aesthetics. The synthesis remains, but with a much harder edge. Although Brutalism was always key to Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan’s sound, it was often optimistic in nature – the awe you might feel staring up at a shiny béton brut. A utopian vision of a socialist future lost in time.
On his seventh album, Industrial Growth, that dream becomes corroded; the edges sharpened. That once-shining monolith becomes ominous. And “This Machine”, with its cutting metallic kicks and sinister choral pads, sounds the death knell.
Beverly Glenn-Copeland – Winter Astral [Transgressive]
It’s not all doom and gloom, though, is it? Even in this world of chaos and misery, there’s still beauty and wonder in nature. And as I sit here, with a cup of Yorkshire, on a chilly November morning, writing a load of waffle about music I love, while staring out at the Marão mountain range in the distance, and listening to Beverly Glenn-Copeland’s “Winter Astral”, I’m reminded that even as we enter Calan Gaeaf, in a world gone mental, and with the long dark knocking at the door, Awen is flowing.
Have a lush week
Jammo x